Joseph Lloyd LeMaster, 31 will be sentenced on Jan. 6 for crashing a boat and seriously injuring a passenger on Lake Orion.
The Orion Township man pled guilty to three charges in the incident that happened last July. He made an appearance before Judge Steven Andrews in Oakland County Circuit Court on Dec. 4.
After the accident, LeMaster was charged with taking a watercraft without permission, operating a watercraft while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, and being an habitual offender.
He crashed the boat into a small island on the lake. Witnesses said he was traveling at a high rate of speed. A female passenger was seriously injured. Her pelvis and legs were broken when she was thrown from the boat.
LeMaster and another passenger suffered minor injuries. According to Lake Orion Police Lieutenant Harold Rossman, LeMaster’s blood level was .25 percent, more than twice the legal level then allowed under the law.
Rossman said LeMaster had a long criminal history. He was arrested three times within 10 years in Michigan for drunken driving and had convictions in Texas for break-ins.
LeMaster could receive up to 90 days in prison for taking the boat without permission, probation or up to five years in prison for driving the boat while intoxicated and be sentenced to probation up to life in prison for being an habitual offender.
Rossman said all the police officers involved in the case did a “fantastic job” from the time of the accident until LeMaster pled guilty.